Depreciation, in this context, should not necessarily be thought of as a “beggar thy neighbor” policy; because depreciations reduced constraints on the growth of world money supplies, they may have conferred benefits abroad as well as at home.

With interest rates stuck at the zero lower bound, and a sharp contraction in lending across the world, the fact that QE lead to devaluation in the US currency should not be seen as a bad thing.

QE is, in essence, aiming to lower interest rates within the US economy in order to bring forward spending and investment – to stimulate “aggregate demand”. Why did we not get similar arguments from people whenever the US cut interest rates prior to the crisis … as it is essentially the same thing.

Instead of getting annoyed at the high currency, lets ask what it is telling us about monetary and economic conditions here – instead of assuming that the value of the dollar is “wrong”, and asking for arbitrary organisations to “do something” lets use it like any other price, and try to understand what it is telling us.

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